Oh the Places We Go, The People We See ...Dream Trip Report

[jenseib]

 

 

I don’t know what I did, but I evidently made the Evil Queen mad!

 

 

 

Time to breathe a sigh of relief! Goofy is coming to save the day with lots of Candy!

 

 

[jenseib]

They were handing out suckers and Claire got quite a few …and they were tasty!

[jenseib]

 

 

 

 

 

This parade was absolutely awesome! I am so glad that I finally got to see this in person. If you EVER get a chance to see it, do so. It has great music and is just a lot of fun!

[jenseib]

After the parade, I believe we headed over near the jungle cruise and hit the jack pot of trick or treating. They had 2 lines and they were competing on how much candy each side would give the kids. The girls were happy about that.

At this point, I think Carey’s family decided to head up front and try to see the princesses, but Claire and I weren’t quite ready to leave, so we said good bye and headed off on our own.

My favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean, so I convinced Claire to head that way.

It looked like it was on fire with an orange glow around it.

I took some pictures on the ride, but most came out just too dark.

We did see the new mermaid additions and that was exciting to us.

[jenseib]

We had pretty much had it after this. The lack of sleep was catching up to both of us, so we headed to the front.

This is Claire’s treat bag. My wonderful Dis friend Lisa (mickeystoontown) made one for Claire and Kadence and sent them to us right before the trip. It was a huge hit with both girls.

As we approached Main Street, we noticed it was lit up for the party as well.

[jenseib]

We stopped for one last photopass of the night.

We continued down Main Street.

We decided we needed to check out the shops before leaving. I don’t think we end up buying anything though.

[jenseib]

They already had a few Christmas items out too.

[jenseib]

We headed back out.

A few more scarecrow shots

As we walked by the town hall I asked Claire if she wanted to see the princesses and she said no. I really wish I would’ve insisted on doing so. After seeing Carey’s photopass pictures, I am very jealous of the shots she got.

I tried to get a picture of the “See Ya Real Soon” pumpkins, but it didn’t turn out too great.

[jenseib]

We had been carrying “Flat Ben” all night and just plain forgot to pull him out for a picture, so we did get one shot before leaving.

 

 

We went to the locker and retrieved our things and then back to turn in the key. We were thirsty, so we pulled out 2 pops to purchase which basically came to the same price as what the locker deposit refund was.

 

Out to the bus stop and our legs were starting to hurt. We did get a seat, but the bus was pretty crowded. It made a stop at Kidani first and then to Jambo where we got off. Claire was dead tired at this point. She was wishing I would either carry her, or that she would sprout wings so she could fly back to the room. Neither of those things happened!

 

I guess I had enough energy to take a shot of the lobby.

 

 

And then the long hallway to our room.

 

 

It did not take us long to get ready for bed and go out. It had been such a long day, but a very fun one too. We made new memories and new friends and we couldn’t have asked for better weather either.

 

I laid my head on the 2nd pillow of the trip so far. In 2 days I had slept in 2 different spots. “Oh the Places We go”.

[gelo7]

Excellent review.

[lpizzuro123]

Just joining in here so I don't lose your report. Love it and all the photos. We will be on the Dream this coming November 10 for a 4 night cruise so I am really interested in how you liked it at that time of year.

 

We will also be heading down a few days early but plan on going to the F&W Festival. We have done Halloween a few times and love it. I am really enjoying all your photos.

 

I am up to page 7 but will leave reading the rest of your report for over the weekend.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Linda

[jenseib]

Excellent review.

 

Thanks

 

Just joining in here so I don't lose your report. Love it and all the photos. We will be on the Dream this coming November 10 for a 4 night cruise so I am really interested in how you liked it at that time of year.

 

We will also be heading down a few days early but plan on going to the F&W Festival. We have done Halloween a few times and love it. I am really enjoying all your photos.

 

I am up to page 7 but will leave reading the rest of your report for over the weekend.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Linda

 

Thanks for reading along. I am slowly getting more updates done this week.

We really enjoyed the weather though. We had very calm seas too.

[jrauch01]

Great review so far! Excited to hear about the cruise portion in the coming weeks!

[jenseib]

Great review so far! Excited to hear about the cruise portion in the coming weeks!

 

I'm trying to get there. It seems like I have big plans of posting and life keeps geting in the way. Good life, but still in the way. :D

[jenseib]

Nov. 3, 2013 ~ Day 3

 

 

A new day!

I think I woke up somewhere around 6:30 and 7. Claire was out like a light though. I checked my email and facebook then I showered and got ready for the day.

 

I took a look out on the balcony and WOW! We had a bunch of animals out there this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

The views were just gorgeous!

This guy was pacing all over and squawking so loudly. I think he wanted to be on the other side of the fence.

[jenseib]

I fooled around a bit and took a few pictures of Flat Ben for my fellow Diser Dee.

And I got this one that was so cute. Claire never saw it till we got home and she was surprised to see it.

I decided that maybe I would try to do laundry. I know that staying on DVC points you get free laundry services. I headed out for a bit too look. Just so you know, Claire knows that if she wakes up and I am not there she is NOT to leave the room or answer the door. I only leave for a few minutes at a time and come back to check on her frequently if I walk out.

So I went in search and found a room not too far away. Now we didn’t have much laundry dirty, but I thought it would be nice to stay ahead of things. Well this was not for DVC members as you had to pay to use it. I went back to the room and looked at the resort map and still couldn’t find it. I wasn’t going to pay to do a few pieces of clothing, but I would do it for free. LOL

I think I snuck out a couple of times and never could find it.

In the meantime, while out searching, I was texting my Dis/Cruise Critic friend Ellen (podsnel). She had arrived yesterday as well and was staying in some fancy shmancy suite at AKL. She invited me to her room , but they were going to be leaving soon.

I told her I was going to run and get Claire dressed and we would be right over. I got Claire up and she was a little slow, well VERY slow. I put her dress on and told her we would skip brushing the rats nest and her teeth and just head over so we didn’t miss them. She could do those things when we got back.

She grumbled a bit, but was a little curious to see the room.

We headed out and I realized that Ellen’s room was about as far down the hall as ours was, but on the other wing.

I believe this is when, as we were walking a lady came out of her room and started walking as well and then asked me if I posted on the Disboards. I told her yes and she said she read my reports. We said hellos and she told me her name …Jedijill! It was so nice to meet her!

We continued on our long journey to Ellen’s room with the clock ticking. We arrived and knocked and she answered. It was a bit chaotic in her room too, as they were getting ready to leave and some of the family was walking out the door.

This was such an awesome fun meet though. I have been following Ellen’s reports for about a year now. She is married to Pods and has 3 boys, Sean, Tyler and Timmy. I believe her brother in-laws family was staying with them too. I got to meet them all!

It was so unreal to be saying hi to Timmy and Tyler. They were just as she writes about them. Super cute boys, btw! I bet they are breaking hearts all over.

After saying hi, all of them left except for Ellen and Sean, who was sleeping on the couch. Sean is Autistic and so is my nephew. After reading some of Ellen’s reports, it’s so funny how similar they are. I give Ellen a lot of credit, because I do know how hard it can be to raise a child like that. My nephew is wonderful too, but stubborn at times. I believe Ellen once had to take one of Sean’s favorite books ransom in order for him to get on a plane to fly to Florida one year. These are things my SIL has to do at times too.

We left Sean sleeping and Ellen gave us a tour of the place. I am going to say I was really bad and not on my game as I mostly gawked at the beauty of this place rather than taking pictures. I think it had like 4 bedrooms and a pool table room, a living room and kitchen too, if I remember right and several bathrooms. Ellen was beaming. She said it was the best place she had ever stayed at.

Here are the few pictures I did take.

This is the master bathroom.

Isn’t this just so cool!

[jenseib]

 

I think this was the shower tiles in there.

 

 

They had a walk in closet that was the size of some people’s bedrooms. It was massive!

 

 

We headed out to see her view.

 

 

They had 3 huge balconies! It was just amazing.

 

 

We settled in for a bit and chatted.

She was telling me how they had to cancel their annual girls cruise, as one of the girls now had to work. That was a bummer, as I love reading their reports about them. They really have a good time.

She also started talking about a Diser who lived in her town and was a school teacher, but also did side work in the same industry as I. I asked her the name and she told me. Well what a small world …that girl is my co-worker Nikki!

Soon we needed to wrap things up. WE needed to check out of our room yet and have our bags taken and go to our morning ADR and she needed to get Sean going and off to meet the rest of the family.

 

Claire was a tiny bit bored too. (love the wild hair)

 

 

We had Claire take pictures of us. She brightened up when we asked her to do that.

 

[jenseib]

And this was the one she took with Ellen’s camera.

As we headed out, Ellen showed me one other bathroom we had missed.

Then we said good byes. She was going to be here for several more days too and we talked about possibly meeting up later in the trip, but I was so busy, as I am sure she was too, that it never happened.

We rushed back the long journey to our room. Claire brushed her teeth and I made a call to bell services to pick up our bags.

I then had the task of brushing rat city out of Claire’s hair. And guess what, the darn brush broke in it! UGH! I got it kind of put back together to finish the task and then I called my mother. They were on their way to my sisters, (where most of the family was meeting to go to the airport) and her and my Dad were stopping off at the pharmacy first. PERFECT!

I asked if she would buy a new hairbrush for Claire and bring it down and she said no problem. Thinking back, I am sure the gift shop probably had something, but I was in a small panic mode thinking that I wouldn’t have a brush for the rest of the trip.

Soon we had a knock on our door and a lady was there to take our bags. She was so nice and so funny. She asked if I normally stay at Grand Floridian, and I told her no, (I wish) and she said there is a lady who had my same hair that stays there all the time and she always recognizes her by the unusual hair. So there you have it folks. I am NOT the only one who has this crazy color, as my Mom would say.

I told her I never got a voucher for Magical Express on my door and she told me just to go to Bell services later and they will be able to write one for me.

Claire and I were using Magical Express today to get back to the airport where we would meet up with the rest of the family and then rent cars to head over to Port Canaveral. I had called a few days prior, as told by ME and had it arranged and given a time to leave. Since we weren’t catching a flight, we only had to leave about an hour before their flight arrived.

Well there was no time to take a breath and relax. We had an ADR to get to …..Boma!

We headed down and checked right in.

We only had to wait for a few minutes.

We were led to a table for 2 next to a window. I will state right now, that almost all my pictures are fuzzy or blurry. I guess I didn’t have my “game” on this morning.

[jenseib]

We headed up and got Claire a plate of fruit.

I got a little more than fruit. LOL

Not sure why she is making such a weird face.

[jenseib]

We both headed back up a couple of times. Claire really liked the sausage and the ham from the carving station.

[jenseib]

[FloridaGram]

I had to go to the bathroom, but figured I would wait since we landed early. I try to avoid the airplane bathroom if I can, plus I didn’t want to make our row mate have to move.

Sadly, with being so early, our gate was not open. So we sat and waited and waited and waited.

Finally we made it to our gate. We got off fairly fast and headed to the bathroom.

We were excited and ready. The weather was nice and we could hardly wait to feel it.

We went over to wait for the fake monorail.

And soon it was there and we hopped on.

In our excitement, I took a picture of Claire on the monorail.

Look closely at the picture. You will see a lady staring at us in the background. I didn’t notice her in the picture till I got home.

 

 

where did you get the adorable shirts?

[jenseib]

where did you get the adorable shirts?

 

I made them. Claire's is a dress and mine is a Tee.

I found the directions online and I boought the color from Dharma online as well as Claire's dress.

It ia VERY messy to make though. I had smurf blue hands for about a week after I did them. In the end I don't think it was really any chaper than having someone make them for me, which I did the year before. It's messy and time consuming. If you search on etsy you can find many people who make them for sale and have more practice so they get the Mickey head to look much better.

[jenseib]

We finished up our meal at Boma. We really enjoyed it. The juice is pretty darn good too!

I paid the bill and we gathered our belongings and headed out. Once again, we no longer had a room, so we had to carry with us what we needed for the day till it was time to leave.

We made a stop to take a couple of pictures of Claire.

And a stop off at the bathroom.